Title: Love Thy Enemy Author: Nicky Chevalier Feedback: Wanna see me beg? ;) [email protected] Category: S/J romance... hey, I think this one actually has a story...! Spoilers: Teeny tiny references to Entity & The Curse. Other than that, none that I can think of. Season/Sequel info: Sometime around the end of S5, before Meridian. Or just assume Meridian never happened. Rating: NC-17. Archive: S/J, Heliopolis, anywhere else just let me know. Content Warnings: This one's got the works... there's some bad language, a tiny bit of violence and of course the obligatory sex. ;) Summary: How do you defend yourself against someone you love? Disclaimer: MGM, Gekko, Double Secret Productions. You know the drill... Author's notes: Wow, it's been a while. When I went off to uni at the beginning of this year, I had no idea how much I was going to miss this... *** Daniel clenched his teeth against the pain, nursing his injured arm and ignoring the blood seeping down the front of his shirt. Jack was really trying to be gentle with the bandaging, but it was getting harder not to cry out as the bullet caused his arm to throb agonisingly. He felt the bandage being pulled tighter and breathed heavily against the new onslaught of pain, reminding himself of the need for silence as he crouched lower behind the boulder. Jack pressed himself back against the rock as he heard her approaching footsteps, saw the beam of her flashlight play slowly over the thick trunk of a tree to their right. Silently, he was cursing himself for not taking that native man-- Jar-knock, or whatever his name was-- seriously. "You have had the night visions," he had said, more as a statement than a question, and Carter had simply nodded. "They're just dreams," Jack had told her concerned expression, "they don't mean anything." Sure, the fact that his 2IC was having dreams about violently killing him did not give him cause for celebration, but with the gruesome stories these people had been telling them, he wasn't entirely surprised. Some insect that sent people into a murderous rage against their lovers just did not, in his opinion, sound like the most logical explanation for the homicide rate on this planet. At least, it hadn't then. That was before Carter had stolen all of their weapons in the middle of the night and apparently thought it would be fun to use them on him. Jack breathed a sigh of relief as he heard her retreat into the dense scrubland. "Teal'c," he whispered, "take Daniel back through the gate and get tranquilliser guns and a couple of zats. When you come back through,--" "Wait," Daniel broke in, "you're not coming?" "What am I going to do?" Jack asked incredulously, "leave her here?" "Well no," Daniel countered, "but you've got no weapon, no flashlight, and no radio--" "Oh yeah," Jack interrupted, turning again to Teal'c, "bring back a couple of radios too." "In any case," Daniel continued, his brow furrowing as he considered how best to word his next query, "do you really think that you're... the best person to stay behind?" "I'm the Commanding Officer of this unit," he answered, as if that settled it. "Jack," Daniel tried to reason with him. "You heard what Jalnok said. That thing bit her and now she's going to come after the one she loves." The Colonel ignored his implication, turning back to Teal'c. "Go," he ordered, "before she comes back." The jaffa stood to help Daniel to his feet. "Have you a plan O'Neill?" Jack shrugged. "Yeah: don't die." Teal'c raised an eyebrow, but kept quiet, recognizing the futility of argument and logic in O'Neill's present state. "Jack," Daniel tried again, giving up all pretence of diplomacy, "I think it's pretty obvious who she's after. Come back with us, we'll send a rescue team back through." He shook his head in frustration when he got no answer. "This is suicide. She *shot* me to get to you. She's not going to see reason." He resisted Teal'c's attempts to get him moving, gesturing for the jaffa to wait a minute. "Jack?" "Daniel, the natives also said that she could snap out of this at any time. We do not leave people behind. End of story. Go." Daniel, hearing the stubborn irritation in his friend's voice, sighed in resignation and followed Teal'c back to the gate. *** Jack cautiously peered over the top of the boulder and, seeing no sign of her, dropped back to sit behind it. Leaning his head back against the cold stone, he tried to think about his next move. Hearing the gate activate in the distance, he wondered for a moment if she'd head towards it, but decided that she knew him too well for that, knew he'd never leave without her. "Damn," he cursed under his breath, suddenly seeing the sense of Daniel's argument. He was trying to defend himself against someone who had not only all of his weapons, but the advantage of knowing him better than he knew himself half the time. She knew what he'd do, knew where he'd go, and knew that he'd die himself before-- The thought was interrupted by something large, heavy, and solid smashing against the side of his skull. Her gun. His gun. Whatever. They were all her guns now. "Hey Jack," she greeted him cheerfully, just a hint of psychosis underlying her tone. Anyone who didn't know her would never have guessed from the way she spoke that she was here to kill him. "How's it going?" She asked, grabbing a fist full of hair and yanking his head up from where it lay on the ground. He looked at her dazedly, two Carters swimming in his blurred vision as she straddled him. She leaned down, her face within an inch of his. "You know," she whispered almost calmly, "I always wanted to do this..." she ground herself against him, no intimacy in the gesture as she kissed him roughly. "...to be here. But now that I am..." she sat up, shrugging nonchalantly, "it's kind of an anticlimax really. No fireworks, no earth moving, nothing." She gave him a disappointed look, laughing humorlessly. "I really thought the earth would move... but then, we're not even on Earth, are we? Oh well, guess I'll just have to make my own fun, then." She was ranting madly, and yet her face looked deadly calm as she slapped him, hard. He heard her laughing again as he felt the cold sting on his cheek. "Come on Jack," she taunted, "aren't you going to fight back? You disappoint me. I know you can do better than this." She pulled his head up by the hair again, bit his earlobe, drawing blood. "Or," she whispered into the injured ear and then dropped his head back onto the ground, "do *like* having me here?" She picked up his hands, holding them against her breasts. "You wanna fuck me Jack? Is that what you want?" He ignored the pain in his head, ignored her taunting remarks, tried to ignore her breasts under his hands, and focussed all his concentration on how to get out of his current situation. "Oh, that's right," she retaliated, "you're not allowed to think about that. You have to be Mr. Airforce Colonel, too goddamned professional to think about screwing your second in command. Break every other rule except that one, right?" She stood up, still ranting, pacing back and forth as she muttered to herself, speaking too fast and too quietly for him to understand. She turned her back to him, walking forward a few paces to where she'd dropped her weapons, and he saw his chance, took it. By the time she turned around he was gone. *** He crept through the scrubland as quietly as he could, keeping to the shadows, his footsteps sounding amplified to his ears. "Oh Ja-ack," he heard her call from somewhere behind him. He ran on blindly, the darkness both a comfort and a curse as he tripped and stumbled his way through the dense vegetation, desperately trying to avoid the beam of her flashlight. Thinking quickly, he scaled a tall tree, finding a seat on one of its branches and squinting down into the darkness to find her. "I know you're here, Jack," she called from somewhere directly below him, "come out, come out, wherever you are..." He was silent, hardly daring to breath. "Why are you running from me, Jack?" her voice adopted a hurt tone. "You don't have to be afraid of me. I'm not going to kill you. At least, not straight away..." Her harsh laughter sent a shiver up his spine. Suddenly, zat fire erupted, and for a single, terrifying second he thought someone was shooting at her. Ironic, he thought wryly; here I am, completely weaponless and hiding in a tree, worrying about the welfare of the person who's trying to kill me. Under different circumstances he would have laughed. She continued firing blindly around her, getting visibly frustrated. "GET YOUR FUCKING ASS BACK OUT HERE JACK!" she screamed in irritation. Jack struggled to view her through the heavy darkness, confusion knitting his brow as she calmed suddenly, standing quietly, as if deep in thought. He was hopeful for a moment that she'd snapped out of it, but something told him that wasn't the case as she returned the zat to her waistband and retrieved her service revolver, cocking the hammer noisily. "Hey Jack," she called, her voice low, almost seductive. "I know you're there, watching. Want to see my head explode?" She pointed the muzzle at her temple. "Whatcha gonna do Jack?" she taunted, "you know I'll do it. Gonna be a hero?" He felt his stomach drop into his feet as she turned in a slow circle, the gun still at her head. 'Come on Carter', he pleaded silently, 'wake up. Snap out of this already.' She didn't, and as her finger tightened on the trigger he dropped behind her, grabbing her gun hand a split second before the weapon fired, and the bullet missed by millimetres. *** Jack doubled over in pain as his ribcage felt the sharp impact of her elbow. She spun on her heel, her fist swinging around in an attempt to connect with his face but he blocked the punch, holding her wrist tightly as he tried to pry the gun from her fingers. She fought him, her elbow smashing into his face with a force that threatened to knock him out, following through with her knee as he doubled over again. Hooking a leg behind hers, he pulled her feet out from under her and she hit the ground head first, the gun sliding from her fingertips as she lost consciousness for a moment. Jack pounced on it, and she reached down to her ankle holster, drawing the weapon there at lightning speed, cocked it and pointed it at Jack's head as he simultaneously did the same. She lay sprawled on the ground, her weapon pointed directly between his eyes where he knelt beside her, her hands as steady as a heart surgeon's, though her breathing was heavy and laboured. She raised a sceptical eyebrow at the weapon trained on her, looking almost mischievous as she raised her eyes from the gun to meet his. "Oh please, we both know you're not going to shoot me." Her hands shook slightly, then steadied again. "Wouldn't be the first time, Carter," he threatened, tightening his hold on the gun. "How about you lower that?" He stood and took a step backwards, giving her room to stand. She did, the aim of her weapon never leaving its target. "Lower the weapon, Carter, that's an order," he tried a different tactic. "Sorry *Colonel*", she spat, "I've had just about enough of your orders." He hit the deck as she pulled the trigger, splinters of bark flying over him as the bullet slammed into a tree. He rolled towards her quickly, tackling her to the ground again, the gun flying out of her hands once more. She reached for his throat, her fingers squeezing around his neck to cut off his air supply, and he struggled free of her, receiving a kick to the head for his troubles. He fell, stars dancing before his eyes, and she crawled over to him, straddling his hips with a wicked smile. Her hands slid around his neck once more, squeezing unmercifully as he struggled. He clutched at her fingers, trying to pry them from his throat but she was strong and her grip was good. His head pounded as he gasped desperately for oxygen, and with one hand still grasping at hers, the other swung around to connect with the side of her head in a last ditch effort to get her off him. She fell sideways, and he sucked in delicious lungfulls of air as he followed, pinning her to the ground with his weight. Pulling her zat from her waistband, he opened it ready to fire, pointing it at her chest as she blinked at him. "Sir?" She looked confused for a second, then shocked as realisation dawned. "No, Sir, it's me!" she cried out in alarm as his finger tightened over the trigger. He stopped, his eyes darting up to meet hers, the coldness now gone from their blue depths. "Carter? You're back?" She nodded mutely, her throat suddenly too tight to allow her to speak, and he pulled her into a sitting position, his arms going around her in relief. *** Sam buried her face in his neck, the memories of what she'd tried to do eating at her. Tears welled in her eyes, and she blinked them away, the soldier in her trying to swallow the lump in her throat in an attempt not to cry. A sob escaped her anyway, and Jack tightened his hold on her, one of his hands lightly stroking her hair. All the hate, the rage, and the pain that she'd been made to feel over the past few hours escaped in a rush of tears as she cried in Jack's arms. He rocked her gently until her sobs subsided and she pulled away, wiping her eyes firmly as the soldier once again took over. Taking his chin in her hand, she turned his head sideways, inspecting the swollen bruise on the side of his head. "God, I'm so--" "Not your fault," he interrupted before she could finish. "Glad your back," he added wryly. She turned his head the other way, her fingers skimming lightly over his face and neck as she searched for more wounds. "I'm okay," he told her, his voice soft near her ear, "nothing old Doc Frasier won't be able to patch up, anyway." She nodded silently, her hands still holding his face, though she'd stopped inspecting him for wounds. Her eyes caught his and lingered there, her thumbs tracing his cheekbones, moving down over his lips and then finally dropping away, her arms falling back to her sides as she lowered her eyes from his. "You ok?" he asked, looking over her own injuries in the same way she had inspected his. She nodded, and he pulled her back into a silent embrace, conveying his relief at her wellbeing in the gesture. Half expecting her to resist his proximity, he was surprised when her hands skimmed lightly over his back, tracing the muscles there. It wasn't what he should be focussing on, he knew that, and it certainly wasn't professional, but God help him if he didn't love the feeling of her body pressed so close to his, her hot breath on his neck making his skin tingle. His fingers traced her spine in what he had originally intended as a soothing gesture, but somehow it was not coming across that way now. His lips pressed softly against her temple, moving to her cheek, her jaw, her arms sliding encouragingly around his neck. *** His mouth skimmed hers lightly, his hands settling at her waist as she pressed herself even closer to him, and he deepened the kiss, his mouth parting hers to the exploration of his tongue. He kissed her deeply, committing her taste to memory as she responded without hesitation, her hands tightening in his hair to hold him to her. "We should stop," he whispered when they came up for air, his lips trailing a path down her jawline. "I know," she answered, tilting her head to allow him better access, "we can't do this." Jack's lips moved over her neck, feeling her pulse quicken. "I'm your commanding officer," his hands skimmed over her sides, sliding under her jacket and shirt to rest at the bare skin of her waist, "we could get into so much trouble..." "Court martial..." she supplied as his lips moved over her jawline again. "Hammond would be furious..." he added, speaking against her lips as he kissed her lightly. "We should definitely stop..." she deepened the kiss, her hands sliding under his shirt to trace the hard muscle's of his chest. "Agreed..." He tugged at her jacket, pulling it down her arms as he backed her up against a tree, his lips trailing a path of liquid fire down her throat. "...so why don't we seem to be stopping?" She moaned as his lips caressed the sensitive skin below her ear. "God, Jack..." she breathed, pulling his face back to hers to kiss him. "Forget stopping; make love to me." It took every last ounce of strength he had left to tear himself away as he backed up a few paces, breathing heavily and surveying her with desire-clouded eyes. "You have to be sure, Sam, 'cause my self-control is diminishing rapidly here." "Good," she panted, "what can I do to get rid of the rest of it?" Closing the distance between them with what must have been record speed, his mouth came crashing down onto hers in a bruising kiss. Her arms flying around his neck, she held him to her, whimpering into his mouth as his hands found their way underneath her shirt to her breasts. The earth was definitely moving this time, she thought, the rumbling echoing in her ears as... wait a second... She pulled away, listening intently, then gave a deep groan of frustration as she reached down to scoop her jacket off the ground. "The gate," she said by way of explanation, watching as Jack registered the sounds of the chevrons locking into place, signalling the return of Teal'c and possibly a search and rescue team. He took a deep breath, trying to simultaneously calm his surging emotions and curb his irritation-- it was not, after all, Teal'c's fault that his timing sucked. Fighting the urge to pull her back into his arms, Jack ran a frustrated hand through his hair and, with a last hungry look in her direction, set off in the direction of the gate. *** O'Neill rested his head against the back wall of the elevator, watching the numbers light up above the doors on its slow ascent to the surface. 16...15...14... He'd just been tortured for 36 hours straight. Granted, it was unintentional torture-- after all, Janet had no way of knowing what effect confining him to a room in a bed next to Carter's for a day and a half would have on him-- but it was torture nonetheless. To have her so close and at the same time so far out of his reach was the very definition of frustration; he was infinitely glad that his observation period was over and he could go home and start to work on forgetting what had almost happened between them. Or at least *pretending* to forget. He was a pro at that now; denial was like second nature to him. All the little occurrences- the touches, the glimpses, the kisses stolen in the rare moments where there would be no consequences- they were all locked away in a corner of his mind for safe keeping, left there undisturbed except in moments of weakness when he found the thoughts escaping, refusing to be shut away any longer. Acting on autopilot, his mind too consumed by other things to give a thought to where he was going, he was already well on the way to Minnesota before his destination even registered. Although he couldn't remember making a conscious decision to go there, he was happy enough with the plan, he'd probably be better off there anyway. It was quiet there, nothing but him and the lake, and maybe, if he was really lucky, a couple of fish, though he didn't see that happening. Not that it mattered, he always threw them back anyway, on the rare occasion that he managed to catch something. As he'd once told Teal'c, it wasn't the fish that mattered, it was the act of fishing. And, he decided as he pulled into a gas station for fuel and food and bait, a weekend of fishing was exactly what he needed right now. *** Carter gave an impatient glance to her watch, rapping on the door again in case he was home but hadn't heard her. "Sir?!" she called loudly, silently pleading for him to answer her. She wondered where he was, part of her suspecting that he was home, and avoiding her. "Jack, please open the door," she changed tactics, hoping her informal plea would bring him out of hiding. It didn't, and she stepped away, heading back to her car with a final look at the house. It was typical, she thought wryly. For the past five years she'd been clinging to military regulations like a security blanket, always resentful of their presence but unwilling to let them go. Now here she was, perfectly ready to tell the military exactly where they could stick their regulations, and he was nowhere to be found. She sighed, disappointment lacing her features as she buckled her seatbelt into place. She reached for the key still in the ignition, but paused as her cell phone caught her gaze. Reaching over to pick it up from the passenger seat where she'd thrown it earlier, she flicked it open and dialled Jack's number, her fingers drumming impatiently on the steering wheel while she waited for the familiar ring. "The cellular customer you are trying to reach is currently unavailable..." She heard the annoyingly polite automated voice on the other end of the phone and it dawned on her where he was- where he could usually be found when his phone was switched off. She hung up, throwing the phone back onto the passenger seat and turning the key in the ignition. *** Jack breathed in the fresh air, sighing with contentment as he looked out over the lake. The place always had this effect on him; his life could be going to hell in a handbasket, but leave him here for a few hours with a couple of beers and a fishing rod and every problem in the world would disappear. Which is why he very nearly fell into the lake at the sound of one of his problems quietly clearing her throat to get his attention. He whirled around, almost dropping his fishing rod as he caught sight of her standing not twenty feet away, watching him quietly. 'Some soldier you are', he scolded himself, wondering how she'd managed to sneak up on him so easily. He put down the rod, the silence dragging out. "So Carter," he spoke at last, "are you actually going to say something or did you just come to watch me fish?" Her eyes lowered to the ground for a moment and then darted up to catch his gaze. "We need to talk." "No we don't." He turned his back on her, picking up the rod again. He may have been able, with a few more hours of practise, to shut the images away in that compartment of his brain marked 'Carter- Do Not Open', but he'd be damned if he was going to stand around and listen to her telling him what a mistake they'd made. "Sir, we--" "Look, Carter, forget about it okay, it's fine. We made a mistake, we weren't thinking straight, whatever. We'll deal with it, we always do." Still not looking at her, he missed the look of hurt that passed over her features, rapidly followed by one of anger. "Is that how you really feel?" He turned, the question, and the sharp tone in her voice that accompanied it, taking him by surprise. "Don't you?" She backed up a few steps, her demeanour suddenly cold. "I think I'd better go." She turned abruptly, mentally kicking herself as she retreated hastily in the direction of her car. "Carter." She heard the sound of the fishing rod hitting the wooden deck where he dropped it, but kept going, refusing to look back. "Sam!" She paused, his use of her name, punctuated by the note of desperation in his voice, stopping her in her tracks. She turned to see a look that she could only describe as hopeful cross his face, and for a second she thought he almost looked vulnerable. "You didn't come to tell me it was a mistake?" She hesitated, realising he'd just put the ball in her court. She could say yes and leave, hurting them both to protect their careers. Or... She shook her head slightly, taking a few baby steps toward him as he studied her carefully. "Then what did you want to talk about?" Summoning her courage, she bridged the distance between them. "This." Her kiss was soft, her lips barely brushing against his before she pulled back to look at him. He brought a hand to her face, his thumb tracing lightly along her cheekbone and she closed her eyes to his touch, her hand covering his to hold it there as she pressed her cheek into his palm. "Sam..." his voice was soft, almost whispered, and she opened her eyes to catch his. "I know how much your career means to you. I know how hard you've worked, and--" "Jack." Her voice was firm, all traces of hesitancy gone now as she linked her hand through his. "Shut up already." Her lips found his again, deeper this time but still soft, teasing his lips with her own. "I'm not worth risking your career..." he started again as soon as she'd pulled her mouth from his, but she rolled her eyes and cut him off with an almost bruising kiss, her hands holding him to her as she explored his mouth thoroughly. She pressed her body to his, feeling his arms tighten around her waist to pull her even closer. Breaking the kiss, she leant back to look at him, testing to make sure she'd silenced all of his protests. "What was I saying?" He answered her questioning gaze, breathing heavily as he stared at her through heavy-lidded eyes. "No idea," she grinned, letting him pull her towards the cabin. *** The door was flung back into its frame with a loud slam by the force of her body as Jack propelled her against it, a low moan escaping her as his lips devoured her neck, his hands working frantically at the buttons down her front. She gripped the hem of his shirt, ripping it up and over his head, her fingernails eliciting from him a low moan as they raked lightly down the newly exposed skin of his chest. Her breathing became ragged as his lips moved lower, pressing hot kisses along her collarbone, dipping down between the valley of her breasts and finally taking a nipple in his mouth, teasing it with his tongue. Still pressed between the door and his body, her hands twisted in his hair, holding him to her tightly as she arched into him, a low growl escaping her as he reached down to undo the button fly of her jeans. Falling to his knees in front of her, his lips caressed her stomach, his tongue dipping into her navel as he removed the last items of clothing between him and where he wanted to be. She felt the fire building within her, her breathing shallow as his fingers moved over her with an almost phantom pressure, teasing her mercilessly. "Jack, please..." She didn't know if she was pleading with him to stop the delicious torture, or to keep going, but he looked up at her with an almost wicked grin before his hands retreated and his mouth took over. She gasped, her head arching back against the door, her eyelids sliding closed at the unbelievable sensations he was arousing in her. His arms held her steady as she cried out, her knees weak against his endless assault on her senses, until finally her body went rigid and she shattered under his touch, his name falling from her lips on a harsh cry. He stood, ignoring the protests from his bad knee, and held her as she came back to earth, her hot breath on his neck sending shivers down his spine. Her hands raked over him again, pushing him backwards insistently until he felt the edge of the bed against the backs of his knees, and one last push sent him falling onto it, her lips finding his as she went with him. She kissed him hungrily, her mouth moving from his lips to his neck and down his chest as she tugged at his belt buckle, finally working it open and divesting him of pants and boxers. His low growl of approval was muted by her mouth again on his as she lowered herself onto him, moving slowly, deliberately teasing him with her pace. He looked up at her, breathing heavily, his eyes clouded and heavy-lidded as they took in the vision before him. Eyes closed, she was lost in a seemingly endless moment of pleasure, her expression for once completely unguarded. He reached up, tapping the back of his index finger lightly against her cheek to get her attention, and her eyelids fluttered open, the corners of her mouth turning up to match his smile. Rolling them over, he pushed himself deeper within her, and lacing his fingers through hers, quickened the pace, producing breathless moans from both of them. His strangled shout of release echoed her own as his body erupted with hers, and they clung to each other as reality drifted slowly back. It was several minutes before either of them found the strength or the will to move, turning so that they lay spooned together, her back to his chest, his arms wrapped tightly around her and his nose buried in her hair. "Wow..." It was Sam who broke the silence, already half asleep in his comfortable embrace. Jack grinned. "Sure beats the hell outta fishing..." *** End. Okay, now would be your turn... feedback please? *** |